Friday, April 10, 2009

Some of My Favorite Tea Poetry

The first two are by Soshitsu Sen - Grand Master XIV, Urasenke School of Tea

On Drinking Tea Alone...In my own hands I hold a bowl of tea;I see all of nature represented in its green color.Closing my eyes I find green mountains and pure water within my own heart.Silently sitting alone and drinking tea, I feel these become part of me.

On Drinking Tea With Friends...What is the most wonderful thing for peoplelike myself who follow the Way of Tea? My answer:The oneness of host and guest,created through 'meeting heart to heart',and sharing a bowl of tea.

Recalling a Sung Dynasty Landscapeby Jane Hirshfield

Palest wash of stone-rubbed ink

leaves open the moon: unpainted circle,

how does it raise so much light?

Below, the mountains

lose themselves in dreaming

a single, thatch-roofed hut.

Not that the hut lends meaning

to the mountains or the moon--

it is a place to rest the eyes after much traveling,

is all.

And the heart, unscrolled,

is comforted by such small things:a cup of green tea rescues us, grows deep and large,

a lake.

In Tea... by Tim Maxwell

I have glanced into tea leaves,and found a forest.Tea is all in a moment,and a way of life.It is recollection,and attention to Nature.A murmur of the breeze through the trees of Autumn,and the warm of the hearth.Silent mornings at home,when rain streaks the windows' panes.If you analyze tea, you'll find chemical components,but not a hint of Life.Analysis is achieved through concentration,Synthesis arrives through relaxation.Tea relaxes the stomach,but it revitalizes the Heart.

It is a poem of tea which I like so much. I feel adventerous and mysterious to drink the tea!

Of Tea

My cup of tea is steeped in deepest lore,From olden times in lost, exotic lands -The stuff of ardent scenes since days of yore.I hold a cup of legend in my hands.Reposed upon my thoughts as on a throne,Beneath a tropic jungle’s misted light,In visions of fragrant haze, I am shown Incense scent from some ancient temple height.Sweet wisps of Gypsy secrets at my lips,I recollect the wealth of friendships past,Dispelled to naught, like vaporizing ships,‘Cross seas of mystery and romance vast.With kindred souls I sip, and muse, and dream,And sail away on wafts of sultry steam.